CH.18 When sweet freedom tastes like salt
During the days spent in the palace, Iris's home was deserted.
The meticulously manicured flower beds went wild.
Animals ran back and forth in the yard. At least they were still alive.
There was mess and dirt everywhere. She entered the house.
The door creaked as if it were haunted. Cobwebs decorated the walls like tapestries. A veil of dust covered the furniture.
It was a yawning void. The ghosts of the past were calling her name.
The sun's rays, creeping into the land, illuminated the interior with a faint glow.
Dust flakes floated in the air. Iris felt tired.
She opened the windows to ventilate the stale air.
She tore the sheet from the sofa. A wisp of dust rose into the air, almost choking her.
She coughed hard. She laid her head on the soft pillow and allowed her eyes to rest, letting sleep carry her to a distant realm of dreams. Instead, black darkness claimed her consciousness. No dreams.
She woke up to the smell of herbs and baked fish in the air.
She opened one eye. Footsteps could be heard from the kitchen.
She picked up the candlestick and headed into the kitchen.
Someone was there. She could hear him clearly.
She jumped out of the door with her hand outstretched, but as soon as she saw the intruder in the kitchen, she hid the candlestick behind her back.
"I hope you didn't mean to hit me over the head with that." Jace gave her a mischievous smile when he noticed how she had hidden the candlestick.
"It's rude to sneak into someone's house," she snapped. "Not even the baked fish will excuse it."
"Are you sure?"
"A little. I guess you took care of the animals while I was a prisoner in the palace."
"Someone had to make sure they don't die. I wanted to go visit you, maybe even kidnap you, but the guards at the gate probably wouldn't like to see me."
"I came back myself."
"I waited. I heard that you were seen coming home, so I came to see you, to see how you are. If you still remember me. The door was open, so I went in. You were asleep. I thought I'd at least prepare a surprise for you before you wake up."
"Thank you, Jace."
She hugged him. It was nice to feel his familiar touch again. The last familiar thing in her life that had been turned upside down. He was the solid roots that grounded her.
Jace returned the hug. He hid her in his arms. He wanted to never let her go. He could feel the tension and sadness in her.
"Were those difficult days in the palace?"
"The worst of my life. You have no idea how completely wrong everything has become."
"What happened there? Did your stepmother hurt you?"
He took her wounded hand in his. He stroked the small wound on her neck with a gentle touch. He turned her evasive gaze towards him.
"You know you can confide in me about anything."
"Do you remember the man you saw me with? The one I was with at the dragon festival?"
He nodded.
"It turned out to be Crown Prince Edmund himself."
"What?" Jace's eyes widened in shock.
"And for Anastasia, I made a dress that made him fall in love with her, and also a dress that made the entire royal court love her. They kept asking me for more dresses. I had to threaten to turn them into frogs to get them to let me go."
"You've obviously had some pretty crazy days."
"And I also found out that I am a witch. And that my mother was a witch and her mother and her mother's mother, and so on."
A heavy stone fell from her heart when she got those words out. She was suffocating, holding it in. It was poison in her veins, which she resisted with all her might. She was tired of the constant fight. The fight with herself.
"Did you just realize that now?" he gave her a mischievous smile that eased the weight on her heart a little. "Those miracles you sew definitely don't come from God."
"That's not funny, Jace." She gently slapped his shoulder.
"I don't mind that you're a witch," he said, pulling her back to his chest. "And I'm glad you're finally free from your horrible stepmother. You should turn them into frogs without threatening."
There was another secret on her tongue, one she kept in her heart, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
It was one thing to forgive her for the powers she was born with, and another to forgive a demon she didn't even know she had a relationship with.
Crazy. What would he think of her? Would he hate her?
"I should," she finally said after a moment of hesitant silence.
She noticed the necklace sticking out from under his unbuttoned shirt. It was the one she had given him. The necklace from her mother. The one that was supposed to protect her from evil and now it was protecting him.
"Do you still have it?" she wondered.
"Of course," he said. "I always carry it with you in my heart. I never take it off."
Iris smiled. She took the necklace in her hand, to look again at the pendant that had once adorned her neck, only to burn her. She quickly withdrew her hand.
"What happened?" Jace wondered.
"I don't know."
But in reality, she had a hunch. And it had something to do with the golden-eyed temptation she had given in to.
He gently took her burned palm in his. He saw strange symbols on it.
"What is this?" he asked her.
"A long story that I'm not ready to tell."
?
The footsteps led her back to the tower where she had been banished.
The whole house seemed strange to her, as if it were no longer her home, but that was the only place that had not changed.
The same cobwebs, the same dust. But the nests were already empty.
She tore a board from the floor. She took out a box with her treasures.
She hid them there from her stepmother. So that they would not take that away from her too.
There were hidden small portraits of her parents, a glass rose, the last gift from her father, a snake-shaped hairpin that her mother had given her on her deathbed, and all the little memories that she never wanted to forget.
She rummaged through the old things of her mother, whom she barely knew.
They had lain there for so long, gathering dust. Her father had hidden them there from her stepmother and even from her.
He had locked every single thing that belonged to her in that tower, as if it would erase her from the past. Even her favorite books.
He never wanted to hear those words spoken aloud again.
But one book was different, strange. The black leather was cracked.
Iris took it in her hand. She carefully opened it.
Only the blank pages were revealed to her.
She knew they were hiding something, she felt the magic written in each page, but they refused to reveal their secrets.
She threw it away. A letter fell out of it.
Addressed to her. She recognized the writing.
Her mother's writing. She shuddered at the thought that she had written it before she died.
"I hope your insatiable curiosity has led you to this letter before it's too late," began her last words.
"No, that can't be true," she told herself as she read the letter. "He would never do that." She refused to believe the lies she had left behind.
Suddenly, she longed to see her again, to hear her voice.
She wanted to know the answers to all her questions.
Why had she hidden who she is from her? Why had she rejected magic?
And why had she wanted her abilities to remain buried inside her?
Why had she lied to her? She needed answers, an explanation.
Luc had taught her that mirrors could show her anything she wanted. She had to try it. She needed to see her again. She sat down in front of the large mirror in Anastasia's room. She whispered those cursed words to him.
?Ostende mihi Dahliam matrem meam."
The surface of the mirror rippled. The images in it began to take on clear contours. But then the mirror cracked and shattered into small pieces. Iris hid her face from the flying shards in fear. A scream escaped her throat.
"Don't do that ever again!" Luc told her, standing over her. Panic and horror played on his face. "Don't ever summon the dead through the mirror again!"
"Why?" a frightened Iris didn't understand.
"Whatever you find on the other side, it won't be your mother, Iris. The dead hunger for souls and life. They use mirrors as a gateway to this world. If your mother's spirit were to get out, it would possess you and tear your mind to pieces."
"You somehow forgot to mention that when you were teaching me the mirror trick."
"I didn't expect you to be so stupid. It's common knowledge that the dead shouldn't be summoned."
Iris stood up and shook the shards of glass from her skirt. "I must say, you are a complete failure as a demon protector," she told him.
Luc sighed. He rolled his eyes to hell. "I thought you'd calmed down by now?"
"Calm down?" she hissed angrily. "My stepmother pointed a sword at my neck and you just stood there idly by."
"I wanted to know what you would do," he said. "You constantly bowed before her and granted her every wish. Waiting for a brave knight in shining armor to come and save you. It was time for you to stand up to her, Iris. Stand up for yourself. But only you could do that."
"She could have killed me."
"She wouldn't do it. She didn't have the courage to do it."
"But what if she did? Would you watch as she stabbed me with a sword and I bled to death?"
He took a step toward her, two. Iris didn't back down.
She stood firm on her feet, her body tense.
She stared at him intently. He took another small step toward her.
He let the space between them disappear.
He brushed a stray strand of golden hair behind her ear.
He saw the healing wound on her neck. His eyes grew sad.
He gently stroked the wound. He shuddered at the thought that it could have been deeper.
"I would never let anyone hurt you, Iris. I would set the world on fire, turning their nightmares into reality, if they so much as touched you."
"And yet."
"I'm sorry, Iris. And believe me, as a demon, I find it very difficult to apologize, but this world does not know the words that can express how sorry I am."
She kissed him. She didn't even know why.
Some strange force drew her to him like birds to the sky or stars to the night.
And he wouldn't be a demon, her tempter, if he didn't kiss her back.
She tore off his shirt, revealing his well-built muscles.
She liked touching him when he touched her.
Body on body. Naked skin. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to bed.
"That's Anastasia's bed," Iris objected.
"Do you see her around here? I don't," he said. "Hello! Is there anyone here? Anyone who would have any objections?"
He made Iris laugh.
"See? Nobody. Not even a mouse."
He silenced any further objections with passionate kisses.
He claimed her lips, her breath. With an insatiable ferocity, he claimed her entire being, and Iris surrendered herself to him completely.
She pressed her hips against his. She wanted to feel his pride inside her.
She wanted to feel his full power as he thrust hard into her.
She breathed rapidly. Sweet moans of pleasure escaped her lips.
"Scream," he growled into her skin. "I want to hear you scream my name."
"Luc," she said between moans.
He grabbed her by the neck gently but still quite firmly. "Scream!" he said as a command.
Iris nodded with a smile. "Luc! Luc!" she cried out his name longingly.
That was exactly what she wanted. The untamed demon that he was.
She liked wearing his powerful arms around her neck like a necklace.
She wanted him to press. She wanted him to give himself to her as she gave herself to him.
She twisted them. Now, she was on top. She rode his pride gracefully.
She teased him. Luc grabbed her hips. He led her.
She dug her nails into his chest. The demon moaned.
That quiet sound could bring her pleasure like nothing else in the world.
"Say you're mine, Iris."
"Only yours."
"Only mine. My little witch. My queen."
He pressed her hips possessively against his until he reached full climax. He left his mark on her. He marked her soul.
Iris rested her head on his chest. She listened to the beat of his heart, beating so calmly and powerfully.
In one rhythm with his breath, it sounded like a beautiful melody.
She repeated to herself that he was dangerous, after all, he was a demon, her mother must have had a good reason for avoiding him, why she protected her from him, but something inside her drew her to him too much.
He gently stroked her thigh with his fingertips. He drew patterns into her skin.
"Tell me, Iris, are you with me because you love me or because your prince broke your heart?"
"He's not mine, but you are. Ever since the moment after the masquerade ball, when it was just you and me, I haven't been able to get you out of my head.
Those were the happiest days of my life.
From that moment on, every thought of the prince paled in the ocean of thoughts of you.
I guess I just couldn't accept that I love a demon. "
"I'm glad you finally gave up on that illusion and returned to where you belong."
"And where do I belong?" she gave him a questioning look.
"To me." He kissed her. He gently bit her lower lip.
"Were you jealous?"
"Of course," he replied. "Who wouldn't be jealous if he felt his wife being satisfied by someone else."
"But I'm not your wife. I don't remember us getting married. I don't even wear an engagement ring."
He took her bandaged palm in his. He connected the identical symbols that adorned them.
"You accepted me, Iris, and I accepted you. In the world where I come from, it's similar to engagement in this one."
He gently stroked her palm, the snake coiling around her finger like a ring.
"And when we slept together, we sealed the bond as a marriage bond. You are the only one I have ever accepted. We belong together."
Iris's heart stopped for a moment. His words caught her off guard. She almost forgot to breathe. This shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have. He tricked her. At the very beginning. It was all just smoke and mirrors.
"So there was never a chance that Prince Edmund and I would end up together."
"I would never let him take you from me. My wife. My queen."